Dreams Never Fade Away
by PastellRain
Summary: (Haku x Akaito) It's winter of 19XX. Pessimistic Akaito unexpectedly meets and befriends Haku, a lonely and sickly girl who longs to one day recover from her sickness to be able to enjoy the snow. As Akaito spends more time by Haku's side, he slowly learns to find joy in little things. As Haku's condition begins to worsen, their precious friendship helps Haku to keep on smiling...
1. Chapter 1

From inside the lit room in the tall warm house, she gazed at the scene from her frosty windows with wonder.

With her finger, she followed and traced the path of an especially large snowflake until it slowly tumbled out of her view.

Snow, it was like magic it seemed.

It fluttered and dallied through the wind, soundlessly landed on the lightest of objects, painted itself upon each and every little surface and transformed all of nature into a masterpiece.

In the morning, the children would be delighted, playing and bonding with each other thanks to this gift from the sky.

Haku though, felt happy just watching the flakes fall, imagining the wonderful place they could have came from and the smiles that they would bring. Like shards of fairy dust.

Even knowing what snow was, Haku still had never known anything quite like it.

Gazing out at the enchanting landscape, she cupped her cold hands together and whispered softly to the air.

_When I'm finally able to fly, I'll meet with you_

_and together, we'll make our wishes come true._

* * *

><p><em>"Darn this snow..."<em>

Not only did it cave in whole cities, or reflect seas of peircing white sunlight during the day... It made everyone have to clean up after itself.

Akaito Shion tussled the snow off his ruddy hair as he continued to scrape heavy, wet piles off of the walkway outside his small house.

"I'm so sick of this weather." He mumbled, yanking off his snow hat (it made his neck sweat profusely.)

"This is the fourth time I had to shovel all this darn snoow-whoa!"

Akaito's legs gave away as he toppled over into a frigid sheet of snow besides the bushes.

"And darn this stupid ice!" he yelled shivering, punching the frozen puddle looming near his legs. He wanted to see if he could crack it. That would be really neat. After all, it's not like anything truly neat ever happened to him, especially since he started living by himself. Only he thought the privacy he got was worth not having an 'exciting' life.

And indeed, not even Akaito's parents were anywhere near. At sixteen years old, he eagerly moved out of his family's house in order to live a quiet, solitary life alone. He simply liked it better that way, although not every day happened to be quiet. Akaito was still a student at the Veux ca Loyd Academy, which was overrun with children, little pranksters, and way too much chaos. (According to him.)

Once he was done clearing the walkways near his house, he wiped the gathering sweat off his brow, tore his wet gloves off, stuffed hands in his jacket pockets, and walked down the cleaned-off sidewalk towards his usual place to get coffee every morning. The overexposure to winter was making his head ache.

"I'm going to need a ground habanero deluxe today, extra spicy and extra bitter. And with no sugar." Akaito momentarily loosened up to his thoughts. Ah, spicy, piping and bitter, just the way he liked it. The other customers probably thought Akaito was part dragon for being able to even down that stuff.

But upon arriving at the small building he had in mind, his sanity began to fall. The lights inside the café were off. On the front door of the building, a grey paper card read, in faded bold letters, "WE ARE CLOSED."

A huge mound of snow slipped and dove right off of the slanted roof, pounding Akaito right in his forehead.

With his face and jacket covered in clusters of ice crystals, Akaito stood there and leered.

"Are you serious!?"

Seconds later, slashing the snow off himself, he finally moved his stiff body and lumbered it back down the path, his small headache beginning to spread uncomfortably to different areas.

The distant laughter of playing children in the snow-covered fields crept up and tickled his ears, agitating him even further as his disdaintful steps turned into stomps.

i"Kids are so ignorant... they can't even realize how messed up the world is and how useless their playing is... but in a strange way... I... sorta feel... kind of jealo-"/i

Interrupting his imprisoning thoughts, a flyaway of paper, white as it could blend into the snow, sailed in through the piercingly thin air and smacked Akaito right in the face.

"ACK." it was like a shock of white.

"I- ah. ACk. What-the- ooh..."

... ... ...

He paused for an exaggeratingly long time, standing with clenched fists as if his tedious morning could not get any worse. The chilling blowing winds were so steady that the smooth paper was plastered smoothly on his face until he took his hand and peeled it off.

Akaito was then just about to thoughtlessly crumple the small white square and just fling it somewhere. Only he spotted handwriting on it that made him curious. Loopy, elegant handwriting written in black ink, despite being somewhat messy and scribbly. He thought the shape of the handwriting looked explicitly igirly/i, but it strangely wasn't an eyesore to him.

"Janurary 14, 19XX," it read.

_"heavenly white snow once again covers the grounds outside. it makes everything look delightful, and wonderful as if i were looking at a painting._

_right now, as i gaze out the window, i wish i were out there sledding, building a snowman, or making snow angels. rolling through the snow must certainly feel like rolling through a dream, i'd imagine. i would love to have a friend with me too, i wish-"_

Akaito curiously flipped the note over to the back to see if there was any more to it, but it was blank. The note was unfinished and abruptly cut itself off. Akaito secretly wanted to know where it came from, though he shrugged and folded the paper back in his jacket pocket, abrutly remembered his grumpy mood, and continued to walk.

"Hmph... is she crazy?" Akaito thought nonchalantly, unconsciously assuming the writer of the note was a female.

"Who would even want to be out in the snow anyway? Rolling in a idream/i? Really?"

Breaking his train of thought, Akaito heard a muffled cough echo through the still air. He lifted his head up and looked up and around, looking through the white roofs of houses, glassy windows...

He looked at one window just in time to see another small piece of paper spring out, then flutter from the window of the two-story house nearest to him.

Slightly puzzled, Akaito ran towards the spot and picked it up, he didn't read it, but in his glance, he saw that the handwriting on the note was the same as the other.

"Excuse me, sir... would you please be kind enough to return those papers to me?" an airy, somewhat shaky voice floated down weakly from above, followed with another cough.

"Um, sure." Akaito yelled up to the window.

"Oh, you can just... use the front door. And when you see the stairs on the left, walk up them, and then my room is on the right."

Akaito carefully listened to the hollow voice.

"Um, alright. Got it."

He felt a small bit intrusive for entering another person's house so randomly, but he was immediately drawn in by the domestic coziness that wafted about inside of the interior.

The brown wooden walls and floors, bluish lavender carpets, topped off with a strange aroma of drowsiness and peace.

The toasty temperature as he stepped inside made him feel delightfully warm as well.

Remembering the directions he had been told, he found the staircase to the left, and entered the door to the right.

"Creak..." the door hinges softly chirped, a distinct creak, like a small kitten's mew.

The atmostphere of warmth and safety was even more saturated in the small room, whre the walls were painted a smooth white and the furniture soft colors. Several paintings and pictures of nature were strewn about the opposite wall.

In the corner on the edge of that wall, under a large curtained open window and a few drawings of butterflies, was a bed big enough for two people.

And in it, was but one girl with skin and hair like snow.

She entered Akaito's gaze as she faced back in his direction, with modest, gentle eyes. Her face was sullen and pale, reminding Akaito directly of the winter landscape he had just walked in from. Below her sloping neck, her body, appeared rather lanky from what one could see outside of the thick bedsheets.

On the elevated wooden platform to her, Akaito spied a slightly tattered journal that appeared to have been where the note papers were from.

Akaito approached the odd girl apprehensively. To his surprise, she began fidget on eye contact, hiding her face away.

"Um... here you go." at the edge of the bed he held his hand out. The sickly-looking girl turned around to face him, reached to pull the crinkled notes in and skimmed over what she had written on them.

"You... didn't read them, didn't you?" she asked, in a tone that was almost a murmur.

"Um... no. I mean... yes, I only read the first one."

"Not the second one?" the female asked.

"No." Akaito quickly shook his head.

"Whew..." the frail girl let out a sigh before showing her gratitude. "Um... thank you though. Thank you very much for the favor!"

"Hm, you're welcome." Akaito honestly didn't know whether he should've just left then.

He would've, he was going to, but he strangely, he simply wouldn't walk out the door. Was he afraid of seeming rude?

The earnest, fragile-looking girl in the bed made him feel a bit intrigued. She looked almost like she was an untold story herself.

i"A long, sad story..."/i Akaito realized he was lost in thought when he noticed that she behaved quite meek. Facing the window, while her eyes continued to spare glances in his direction every second. When it seemed like he wasn't going to leave, she began to face him again.

"Oh... well... isn't the snow lovely?" she asked in a breathy tone, amongst the stilling silence.

And Akaito, the exact same person who was mentally cursing out the weather minutes earlier, decided to nod, just slightly.

"Have you built a snowman today?" she continued asking, with a gentle smile.

Akaito thinned his eyes. "What...?"

The shy female gave a sigh and cast her head down.

"I wish that I was healthy enough to be able to play outside and stroll through the snow. My mother said, because my body is weak, and the seasons are getting brutal, I should stay in bed. I need to keep warm and rested so I won't get any sicker. It's such a shame though... I love Winter the most."

Fondly she spoke, in a small, low voice.

"Winter... she's sadly melancholy, yet graceful and sweet, and she brings people tons of joy..."

"She?" Akaito thought. What was with this strange girl, calling a season by a pronoun? But he did have to admit... he was feeling a twinge of sympathy.

"And if you play in the snow, then you are making friends with winter..." the girl quietly finished talking.

_"...Haku Yowane?"_

Akaito spotted her name on the side of her notebook, in her now familiar loose handwriting. Haku Yowane, a name that to him, flowed together like smooth silk. It left him with a light, feathery impression.

"Um... so..."

Out of all the questions he wanted to ask, he didn't know of where to start. He didn't know of what to ask her.

"Where are your... parents, anyway?"

It was one of the first questions that came to his mind.

"My mother isn't home right now." Haku answered without hesitation.

"Father... he's gone to heaven. Mother is probably out working hard for me to get better..."

"So... can I help you in any way, Haku...?" Akaito finally brought up the courage to speak.

"Oh, y-you don't have to do anything for me." Haku said. "But I want you to be happy and enjoy things. You enjoying the snow would be enough for me..."

"Why... don't you care about yourself?" Akaito forcefully interrupted. Haku immediately looked a little bit thrown back.

"Well... I do want to get better, but... in the meantime, I just want to m-make everyone else h-happy."

Akaito noticed Haku shivering slightly. Her thin exposed neck was only slightly concealed by her thin hair and appeared as it would be bitterly cold.

"Haku, you seem cold."

Somewhat sternly, Akaito removed his dark red scarf from his neck, and with his warmth still lingering in the fabric, he lifted Haku's smooth flowing hair and gently wrapped the scarf around her neck.

"You... but, why?" Haku asked, seeming somewhat reluctant and baffled.

"Because..." Akaito shifted his stern face away slightly.

"You seemed to have needed it more than I did."

"Thank you... but... I really just d-don't want it." Haku slid the warm, thick scarf of her neck and held it back out.

"I can tell that this scarf was special to you. See how it's slightly worn out?"

She pointed to the ragged, tattered spots with her thin fingers and Akaito did think of how long he had worn the scarf; ever since he first moved to a new neighborhood back when he was young. It was a long time when he thought about it. Though he never considered it as any important keepsake.

"I really do appreciate your kindness towards to me... but I wonder... why you seem so sad?"

Haku suddenly asked, looking Akaito meekly in the eye. Her face looked especially indisposed when she frowned in concern-large, round, droopy eyes, and a long, thin nose. Yet to Akaito, it was an innocent-looking, oddly endearing face.

"What makes you think I'm sad?" Akaito narrowed his eyes. Haku lifted a hand to her mouth.

"Well... why aren't you playing in the snow, or... smiling?" she asked in a crestfallen voice.

"You... Haku, why do you want to see me smile so badly?" Akaito threw his arms our. It was his habit to become aggressive when he didn't understand something. He barely noticed it.

"Because I believe everyone can be happy if they just smile, if they just believe in happiness..." Haku's voice shook. "I even throw notes out the window on purpose sometimes, with nice messages on them, just so I could make someone feel good..."

Akaito, suddenly in disagreement, shook his head.

"Personally... I think people like you tend to go a bit overboard..."

His words were somewhat coated with aggression, as his speech normally was.

"Well... you see, it honestly... just doesn't work. It takes more than just smiling on the outside to fix what's inside." he paused to think of an example.

"Smiling... it isn't getting you out of the bed you're stuck in, isn't it? It's the truth... Just because you made somebody smile, doesn't necessarily mean you made them happy."

When Haku's face became a shock of white, Akaito suddenly knew he had said the wrong thing. The fragile tension in the room had gotten too much for him to put up with.

He wished now that he could've just kept his thoughts inside.

"Um... Sorry, I really have to be home now," Akaito said.

"I have a lot of stupid school assignments to do. Goodbye. It was nice to talk."

He tried flashing a shaky at Haku to see if she would smile back, but her face was looking too far down to be sure. He made himself assume she had smiled, anyway.

Akaito pushed the chair back nervously.

Slowly, he got up and turned around, aware he left the scarf on Haku's bedsheet, as he had on purpose.

Haku looked up just as Akaito entered the hallway, just in time to see the thick white panel close behind her one last time.

The sound of footsteps faded and disappeared.

Everything was silent again. Not a single sight moved.

After a few long, empty seconds of staring at the door, Haku's red eyes quietly filled with tears. Trembling with weak sobs, she clutched the warm red scarf, burying her face into it as she began to cry.

* * *

><p><strong>ENDNOTE:<strong> In case you didn't realize, "Veux ca Loyd Academy" is a pun I made on "Vocaloid Academy". "Veux ca Loyd, sounds a bit French? It should be pronounced like "Vocaloid"!

The story is supposed to take place in 'simpler times', you know, before cellphones and all. Before even cars, perhaps. Before advanced medicine was there, for people like Haku.

This story is planned on being 5-9 chapters of the same length. Part 1 is probably the worst part but *sigh*, gotta start somewhere..

By the way, I got the inspiration of the story by listening to "Yoru no Uta" from Cardcaptor Sakura. It just put it into my head.

gee i kinda really hope people would care about this though. i don't predict it ever gathering much attention ;;

And yes, there will be a story, of course!


	2. Chapter 2

_"Dreams never die..."_

* * *

><p>Akaito didn't know how that phrase popped into his head, but after thinking about it, he realized he had remembered it from earlier that day. It was sewn into a picture frame, decorated with laminated autumn leaves.<p>

For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about the morning. About Haku.

Now that Akaito thought about it, he couldn't recall meeting anyone who was nicer than her. Not only were her manners extra polite, but Akaito also understood that she cared profoundly for others, more than she did for herself.

Yet he reacted to that by becoming annoyed with her. By hurting her feelings.

And in truth, he did it out of worry and concern.

Haku was in poor condition. He didn't want for her to neglect herself just because she was so concerned for others. What would happen to her? What about her wish to one day be healthy again and to play in the snow with everyone?

Akaito took one more sip of hot chocolate, instantly put the mug down and headed to the door. The hot drink wasn't settling well inside him anyway. It made him only feel heavier, amplifying the very weight of his own guilt.

He put on a thick coat and headed out the door, his neck feeling exposed due to his scarf not being there anymore.

He needed to apologize. He needed to tell Haku that he cared about her.

She needed him by her side.

* * *

><p>It was as if the calm and tender five-o-clock sun radiated ribbons of caramel.<p>

Musty sunlight set the closed transparent curtains aglow, and it dispersed opalescently inside the soundless room. The greying walls all around were being tinted a warm beige.

As if she were waking to soft classical music, Haku awoke gently, sprawling out her arms and legs smoothly she yawned. The cold air pierced at her skin before she buried herself again beneath the thin covers of her sickbed.

Haku's bedsheets were thin, but they were made of wool. Soon they would become toasty as they filled with her warmth again.

Haku felt rather unemotional in this moment, despite that she had cried herself to sleep moments earlier. Fatigue and long days only made her feel numb through and through.

The only sound around being her soft breathing, Haku drifted off once again.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a cobalt sky above her.

From a towering point in the clear sky, white feather had just begun to float down.

As Haku watched, she soon realized the feathers were actually round wide snowflakes, and her vision was so clear that she was able to see their patterns.

Gazing up at the sky, she spread her arms out, waiting for them to fall over her and to feel the soft cool touch on her bare skin..

And she was suddenly wearing a billowy white dress, one that bared her long arms and her legs below the thigh. She was barefoot, and her shoulders were fully exposed.

Yet Haku did not feel cold at all. Not even a bit. For around her neck, there was a thick red scarf that warmed her entire body.

She lay until snowflakes surrounded her, until she was bathed in their light, happy tenderness. She rolled around and made a snow angel, and another one. Soon the white ground was covered in snow angels and stacks of small snowballs...

But when one snowball hit Haku in the face, her dreamy feeling began to dissappear...

* * *

><p>"Haku? Wake up, darling..."<p>

Haku was softly awoken by her mother's tender voice.

Ms. Yowane was relieved when Haku opened her droopy red eyes and the sounds of rustling bedsheets were heard. It all reminded Haku's mother that her daughter was okay.

"Are you okay, angel?" she said, as she held a hand out to her Haku's forehead.

"I am fine, mother." Haku warmly responded after waking. She smiled, even though it was clear that her smile was heavy.

Her daughter's small bright voice instantly lifted Ms. Yowane's soul, but the effort she detected in her Haku's weak smile pained at her heart.

She embraced her daughter once again, noticing soon of the scarf that hung between her fingers. The tattered cloth with pieces of rich burgundy thread hanging in the middle of the broken sews. It looked as if it had been handled with lots of love.

Ms. Yowane lightly picked it up and smoothed the edges of it.

"Haku, where could you have gotten this scarf?" she quietly asked her.

"I... I got it... from... a-_a friend..._" Haku softly responded, her voice shaky as usual.

"A friend... gave it to me."

Haku smiled wistfully.

After a few seconds of a tender bittersweet feeling, Ms. Yowane smiled back and ruffled her daughter's smooth hair.

"They must've been a very nice friend..." she said, an odd hint of wistfulness apparent in her voice.

Without a spoken word, Haku nodded. Fingering with the scarf again, she noticed the label was about to fall off. A name was written on the label, almost worn out...

"Akailleteaux?"

Her mother was about to go back downstairs for supper, when suddenly a hard knock from all the way downstairs was heard. The knock immedeatly came again, already beginning to sound more urgent.

"I'll get it." Ms. Yowane quietly rose from her seat and headed out the room. Haku's large eyes merely widened as she wondered who could possibly be at the door.

More seconds later, Haku heard a conversation beginning between Haku's mother and a visitor.

Aside from mother's voice, Haku almost could instantly recognize the other gentle, yet strong deep voice she had heard in her house just earlier the same day. It sounded incredibly familiar.

She froze and listened closely, becoming as quiet as a mouse.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, Miss... I'm... here to see... 'Haku Yowane'?"<p>

Akaito fidgeted unnoticingly at the edges of his jacket pockets with his chapped left hand, feeling a small bit apprehensive. Was he saying her name correctly? Was this Haku's mother? Was this even the right house?

But much to his relief, the unfamiliar lady responded with just the words he had been looking for, in a calm voice that resembled her daughter's.

"Oh, yes... she's up in her room right now." the woman said, guiding her long arm to the direction of the staircase.

"Up the stairs, to the right."

Akaito nodded before he continued to listen.

"I do worry about her, a lot... To be honest, she appears dreadfully lonely, even though she usually always hides it with a smile..." she paused wistfully, then smiled warmly again. "Might you be a friend of hers?" she asked Akaito.

_"Friend...?"_ Akaito thought.

He honestly hadn't thought of that word all day. _Friend_. It was an unfamikiar word to him.

But now that he did think of it, the word sounded like... an overly nice way of seeing it.

"Yes... I... I am." Akaito uttered after a slight pause.

He began to head up nearby staircase, feeling a strange warmth itching inside him.

Ms. Yowane smiled, then headed to the kitchen in order to cook some dinner.

_"How sweet..."_

* * *

><p>Akaito, now in the dim hallway, turned to his right and opened the first door he saw. And there Haku was, looking slightly more calm and relaxed, the dark-colored scarf sprawled across the bedsheets covering her lower body as she sat up.<p>

"Hello." Haku greeted with a bittersweet smile... the familiar puffy, droopy red eyes and long face.

"Um... Haku, listen please." Akaito began to recite his apology which he (barely and nervously) practiced.

"I'm... I'm sorry for what I said earlier. About... smiling and stuff. In a way... I was wrong. I was terribly wrong. Because... when _you_ smile... I see.._hope_ on your face." Akaito suddenly froze up at the words that seemed to jut spontaneously fly out of his mouth. It wasn't at all what he had imagined himself to be saying at first.

"R-really...?" Haku mumbled.

"Y...yes. And... I just... don't want you to stop being who you are, I guess. You... you in a way... kind of make people feel hope..."

And just as Akaito said that, he suddenly felt a sensation in his chest shiver down to the rest of his body. It wasn't a frigid cold shiver, or a distraught one. It felt _warm_, warm like a sip of hot cocoa to a frozen body...

And for the first time since he could remember, Akaito was smiling for real. Smiling for Haku.

As she gazed at his smile, Haku's eyes turned from a dull scab-color to a red, glossy glow.

And in her warm eyes, tears began to well up, falling down her face as she trembled.

Akaito almost immediately noticed. He shifted his face away, feeling almost as if his gut had been punched.

He felt his posture suddenly become weak.

"Are you... okay?" he spoke softly, as if speaking any louder would break a fragile sheet of glass.

Haku was facing down to her hands, which were tightly clenched together, her thin fingers locked into each other nervously. She inhaled shakily.

"I... I got somebody to smile... but..."

Amongst the silent room, her voice was very hollow. Yet Akaito could hear every detail in it, including her deep breaths and how it shook.

"I... _thank you..."_ Haku whimpered.

_"It means... a lot to me... b-but..."_

The intensity of her small sobs increased rapidly, as more tears began to obstruct her vision. The room only looked like a red blur.

She emitted a tiny hiccup and buried her face in her long, loose sleeve.

Haku had failed to fight back her tears.

"Why?... your smile looks so sad, why?"

Akaito, uneasy by the fact Haku so suddenly began to shed tears, put one hand to the edge of her bed, trying to comfort her.

In truth, Akaito hated seeing people cry. He hated how awkward it made him feel, as if he were the one who made them cry. The worst part was that he didn't know how to handle situations like this.

Haku removed her sleeve from her face and took in deep, shaky breaths. Seeing the room again only made her cry harder. Two big tears dripped from her small face, reflecting the ruby sunlight before they fell and absorbed into her white bedsheets.

Akaito exhaled.

"Haku... Haku, please... and... I'm sorry if it's me."

He froze again just looking at her face. He suddenly was able to feel a piercing, solid pang of what Haku could've been hiding inside until now. He finally understood.

All along, Haku had been trying her hardest to spread happiness to soothe her lonely heart, concealing herself under a cheerful facade.

But sometimes, it became too hard for her to keep it up. She pretended to be just fine because she didn't want for anyone else to worry. Seeing Akaito's heavily concerned smile must've caused her to break down.

_"That's right... she's only a girl. Just a girl, going through a lot..."_ he thought.

_"There's so many things she wishes for... and she probably isn't getting any of them..."_

"Haku, don't cry." he made his voice soft and lightly grabbed around Haku's wrist until it felt delicately warm. Akaito was trying his best,

"I don't want you to cry, so..." he froze as he suddenly couldn't think of words.

Haku tried to slow her sobs to a rough, shaky stop. It hadn't been that long, yet her eyes already looked as if she had been sobbing for a while. Her pale face became stained red in minutes.

Haku looked as if she wanted to talk, but she did not say anything.

Akaito frantically took the scarf on the bed and wrapped it around Haku's bare neck all over again. He kept his warm-sleeved hand on her shoulder as he finished, gently petting at her light sweater.

"Haku... please don't cry. Listen to me... I'm your friend. You don't have to feel so lonely." He could barely handle any more of Haku's pain before he would break down a well. He struggled to hide it.

"I'm sorry you have to be bedridden, but... it doesn't mean you're... alone. I'll be here for you... I'll try. I want... _I want to make you smile too_. I'll make sure your happiness is real."

Akaito looked Haku in the eye and tried speaking his mind. He deemed himself horrible at saying the right words, but Haku's expression right then began to signal that she understood.

She nodded, wiping the remains of tears from her face. She looked at him and gave a red-faced smile.

Akaito made a relaxed smile and grabbed onto Haku's shaking hand.

"It'll be okay. I'll make sure it will."

And without a word, Haku reached out to the edge of the bed and threw her arms around Akaito.

Akaito sighed and patted Haku's thin back slowly. It lasted for several seconds. And during these seconds, Akaito felt that he was truly becoming close to Haku. Her warmth and gentle touch. Her emotions. Everything he felt from her embrace.

After the embrace ended, Akaito watched as Haku quietly shifted around, reaching for the corner near the window where she kept the journal and stack of papers. From the bottom of a pile, she pulled out a thick, worn-out book, the pages crinkled and yellowed with age. She gently tucked it under her arm.

"What is that?" Akaito curiously asked.

"A book..." Haku replied in a soft voice.

"Well..." Akaito stifled any urge to become impatient.

"Well of course I can tell it's a book. But what kind of book?"

"It's... you wouldn't like it." Haku fidgeted sheepishly. "It's a fairy tale... it's about a girl who becomes a fairy. When she's a fairy, she can talk to animals, and do magic for people to make their wishes come true. A fairy's job is to spread loe and beauty to the world. I've read this book so many times... one of my favorite things are the group of fairies that help bring the seasons... there's the summer fairy, the winter fairy, the springtime fairy, the autumn fairy..."

"So you really like that book, don't you?" Akaito asked, trying to understand. Haku nodded.

"Yes... it's actually a series. But because the big library is so far away, and the small library nearby doesn't have them in stock, I only have this one. It's a story all the way from Europe. It was written by someone called Luka Megurine. She's famous."

"I've... never heard of her." Akaito said, just to keep up the conversation.

"It's because not many people over here read these stories." Haku said again, almost a bit solemnly.

"But... I really want to meet her." she said sheepishly, eying Akaito.

"I wish I could meet Luka Megurine. Because I have a lot of memories with this book... I remember my mom and dad reading it to me when I was too young to understand the words. It made me want to become a fairy."

Akaito, who normally would scoff at the idea of wanting to be a fairy, felt strangely intrigued.

"If you were a fairy, Haku... then what would you do?"

Haku suddenly appeared to perk up.

"I would... I would be friends with everyone!" she said cheerfully.

"A-and make presents for people, and I would sit on top of the clouds and create the snow!"

"Hm..." Akaito nodded.

"Why do you love snow so much, Haku?"

"Because... it looks like glitter, and makes everyone cheerful and giddy. And when it falls from the sky, it illuminates the air and flutters so lightly... it's like snow is magical, isn't it?"

Akaito caught himself cringing at Haku's flowery description.

"I... I see..." he said.

"Hey, Akaito." Haku asked with wide eyes.

"What would you do? If you were a fairy?"

Akaito's pupils dilated.

"Well... let's see..." he said sheepishly. What did fairies even do?, he thought.

"I would... live alone. And sleep a lot. Oh... and set things on fire." Akaito spontaneously 'ignited' and cackled for a second, but stopped when he realized he didn't sound so funny.

A few awkward seconds passed.

"That's it?" Haku said. "Why don't you want to do anything else? Fairies can do all kinda of things, like become birds..."

"But then you'd have a bird-brain!" Akaito interrupted. "A bird-brain! All you'd want to do is poop everywhere and eat bread!"

"But, you could fly high and sit on the clouds!"

"It's not possible to sit on a cloud though."

"But wouldn't you want to have a kind of magical power?" Haku looked right into Akaito's eyes.

"But, that stuff doesn't exist." Akaito said. He looked at Haku's face again and immedeatly felt dissappointed again.

Disappointed in himself.

Why did he say such a thing, again?

"Akaito..." Haku surprisingly spoke up.

"To think about things like in such a way... doesn't it make you feel _sad_?" Haku asked.

Akaito looked down at his own palms. Haku's words penetrated him deeply, and for the first time, he realized how closed his heart truly was.

"If you keep thinking like that, you'll lose hope more often." Haku continued. "That's what my mother told me. She told me that I shouldn't be sad because I'm stuck inside, or because my body is weak. Instead, I should be happy because wonder is all around me. It's all around you too, Akaito. You just have to open your eyes wide and look for it. You have to believe in it before you can see it."

As soon as Haku finished talking, the room suddenly began to smell of cinnamon...

Akaito looked into Haku's still face and gathered the impression she was about to cry again. He immedeatly panicked.

"Haku, don't cry again..." he said. But to his relief, the benevolent girl cracked a smile.

"I'm not going to cry anymore Akaito. Because I have a friend. _I have you_."

Akaito was just about to hold Haku's hand again, when a voice from downstairs was calling.

"Haku, I made you and your guest some pumpkin pie!"

It was Haku's mother.

Akaito's eyes lit up. He usually wasn't a huge fan of dessert, but he liked cinnamon. And right now, pumpkin pie sounded like such a satisfying treat. He was sure Haku was feeling delighted as well to hear the news.

Akaito patted Haku lightly on her head and told her she'd come right back.

"I'll get it for you. You don't have to go anywhere, okay Haku? You deserve to rest."

He went downstairs, got two big platefuls of the homemade pie, and walked back upstairs with it. Just the scent of it was driving him wild.

"Here you go."

Akaito set the tray of them down on Haku's bed. He made sure to give Haku the piece that was slightly bigger.

"You should eat it. Your mom seems like a really good cook. And it'll warm you up."

Haku nodded warmly and ate a forkful. The rich texture melted in her mouth and just like Akaito said, warmed her up from the inside.

Akaito somehow thought eating alone with Haku felt very serene and peaceful, like nothing he had felt in his life.

As if he were... in a _castle_, or as if a _fairy_ had touched him on the shoulder. Wait... what?!

"Is this possibly..." he thought, wondourously perplexed. "Is this possibly the feeling Haku meant! The feeling of... wonder?"

He glanced at the window surprised at his thinking, and his eyes were greeted with an enchanting view.

Night had fallen and the air was black, but white dots of snow were fluttering brightly across the window. Dancing just the way Haku described. Twinkling like nearby stars.

"The snow..." he thought. "It... is rather nice."

"Haku, look outside." he said softly to her, as she was busy indulging in her pie.

Haku set down her plate and turned her head to the right.

"Oh," Akaito sould hear her gasp. "It's so... it's so pretty."

Akaito smiled, reached out his hand, and grabbed Haku's, who reacted by glancing towards him with wide eyes, clutching her hand back into his.

"Also... I'm sorry." Akaito said, looking at her face. "But since it's dark, it means I also have to head back home."

Haku reacted with a single nod. "Okay."

She didn't seem sad. In fact, true happiness was radiating from her, Akaito could feel it. He didn't know how he could, yet it felt very clear.

"Goodbye. And thanks for the meal." Akaito patted her shoulder once, put his jacket back on, got up and slowly headed out the door.

Haku watched him head out, feeling a warmth inside. Right before he closed the door around him, Haku gave a huge smile.

Right as Akaito was at the doorway, he turned around.

"Haku... are you happy?" he asked.

Haku nodded.

"Yes, I am. And... thank you."

Akaito smiled back.

"We'll, I'd you're happy, then I'm happy too."

Akaito's final words made Haku feel speechless with joy.

Haku watched him head out, feeling a warmth inside. Right before he closed the door around him, Haku gave a huge smile.

* * *

><p>As Akaito walked back home that night, everything seemed somewhat different. Of course, it was so late that no people were around, but it felt like a dream.<p>

The whole neighborhood had transformed into something special.

But before he could think more about it, another note scurried through the drifty air and blew into his jacket.

He perplexedly unfolded it.

In familiar handwriting, it read

"_When I dream, I go to a magical world, a world I've never shown anyone else. But next time, would you like to visit it too?_"

Akaito was very curious. He stood right there, letting snow gather onto him.

He turned the paper over to see the back.

"To Akailleteaux..." it read.

Akaito went from being locked in a trance to madly snapping out of it.

"WHAT!?" he roared in his mind.

_"WHO IS THIS!? HOW DO THEY KNOW HOW MY REAL NAME IS SPELLED!?"_

* * *

><p><strong><span>ENDNOTE<span>**: Akaito's name is spelled Akailleteaux. It's just an embarrassing little secret! Akailleteaux is pronounced the same as "Akaito". Just Frenchy. XD

AND IM SOOOOO LATE. So late it's not even winter anymore. I have 8 chaps to go. So much for this being my "winter writing project". =.=


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